New Cool Garden at RHS Garden Rosemoor

A new Cool Garden designed by Jo Thompson will open at RHS Garden Rosemoor, Devon, in July 2019. The new garden, centred on the use of water, will feature plants with blue, white and pastel coloured flowers complemented by grey foliage. It will provide a calming contrast to the fiery colours of the nearby Hot Garden.

The main theme of the garden is how gardeners can deal with heavy rainfall. Which is a typical occurrence in Devon but also an increasing challenge elsewhere in the UK because of climate change.

It’s the first garden at Rosemoor to be designed around an ornamental water feature. A curved terrace will allow visitors to look down across the plantings. The terrace wall will have water blades which feed rills running through the garden to a tear-drop shaped pond.

The Cool Garden replaces the spiral garden which was designed by Tom Stuart-Smith in 1991 shortly after Rosemoor was gifted to the RHS.

The new design builds upon the relaxed planting of the former garden, with its subtle pastel tones and silvery foliage. Many of the original plants will be incorporated into the new Cool Garden too.

“As Rosemoor is situated in a location with some of the highest recorded annual rainfall in the UK, we wanted to harness the abundance of water by channelling it to a particular part of the site to create a bog garden. This is a good example of how gardeners need to embrace the conditions they have to work with and turn a potential problem into a focal point.”

Jo continues:

“Having the opportunity to work on a flagship garden such as RHS Rosemoor is a real privilege, by being able to make a landscape that is openly accessible to everyone to see and enjoy.”

Choice plants will include the silver birch Betula pendula Fastigiata Joes (‘Jolep 1’), selections of Hydrangea paniculata and Philadelphus, a selection of grasses to add movement and texture and Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’, commonly called catmint.